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  1. #11
    BPnet Veteran RedRabbit's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for feeding a small yearling boa?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
    Too bad snakes aren't like cats...I think they'd love all this admiration from us, lol.

    It's not a "definite must" to skip feeding when a snake is in shed, but it does help to keep from over-feeding a boa that has a slower metabolism to begin with.

    Some snakes of all kinds accept food in shed while others don't...it's very individual, but also some have no trouble digesting & shedding simultaneously, while for others
    it makes for messed up sheds because both digestion and shedding requires good hydration from their bodies & some snakes don't multi-task well.
    Ha! Very true ... and yet, I think I still prefer snakes. I like cats, and will happily be a pet-sitter for my friends' cats, but I've just never felt the need to have one myself.

    "and some snakes don't multi-task well" <-- Pfft, and I can't even blame them. I'm no longer as good at multi-tasking as I used to be, either!
    Ball Pythons:
    2018 Cinnamon Enchi Ghost - Ignis ("Iggy")
    2018 Butter Mojave BEL - Ravus ("Rae")
    2022 Albino Super Lesser - Cyrus ("Cy")

    Boa Imperator:
    2018 Hypo Blood - Genesis ("Gen")
    2019 IMG Motley - Requiem ("Q")
    2019 Sharp Blizzard - Elysium ("Elys")

    Iggy&Rae on Instagram:
    https://www.instagram.com/iggy_and_rae

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  3. #12
    BPnet Senior Member richardhind1972's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for feeding a small yearling boa?

    Quote Originally Posted by RedRabbit View Post
    I recently got my first boa imperator, Genesis, a beautiful little 2018 male Hypo Blood from Vin Russo. After giving him a week to settle into his new home, he had his first feeding yesterday and responded with gusto (which is delightful to me, as someone accustomed to the coaxing and wheedling that my BPs sometimes need, haha).

    My dilemma is this: The feeder mice I have are too small, so I'm trying to decide how to space them out.

    Vin told me this boy has been taking hopper mice every 10 days, but should be able to move up in size relatively soon. I bought a bag of f/t hoppers, but clearly I'm not used to eyeballing prey size for the narrower boa body type yet, or remembering to account for their longer feeding intervals, so now I have a supply of 19 small to medium sized hopper mice to get through. [facepalm] Unfortunately I don't have anyone else to feed these to, since my BPs are well beyond that size range and have already been switched to rats anyway.

    Would it be reasonable to feed these too-small hoppers every 7 days instead of every 10 days, until the supply is exhausted, and then go up to the proper prey size and go back to feeding every 10 days (or every 14 days, as we'll probably have run into the winter months by then)? I don't want to accidentally overfeed him due to ignorance or overzealousness, but I also don't want to underfeed him as he's still quite small and young. I also want to take into account the fact that his morph is Central American in origin and is not going to be a very big boa to begin with, so some standard feeding guidelines may not necessarily apply.

    Any thoughts would be appreciated! Here's a photo of Genesis from Vin, since I haven't wanted to pester him too much yet.

    Stunning looking boa there RedRabbit, I love the colour of the bloods

    Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

  4. #13
    Bogertophis's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for feeding a small yearling boa?

    Quote Originally Posted by RedRabbit View Post
    Ha! Very true ... and yet, I think I still prefer snakes. I like cats, and will happily be a pet-sitter for my friends' cats, but I've just never felt the need to have one myself.

    "and some snakes don't multi-task well" <-- Pfft, and I can't even blame them. I'm no longer as good at multi-tasking as I used to be, either!
    I much prefer snakes too...I'm not a cat person but I've "cat-sat" before & took in a stray some years back & later re-homed. I'm a dog & snake person.

    What wonderful luck, the way you managed to get this beautiful snake, despite the communications delay.
    Last edited by Bogertophis; 07-19-2019 at 09:55 AM.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

  5. #14
    BPnet Veteran RedRabbit's Avatar
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    Progress check! So, thanks to the unexpected addition of my younger boa, Q (for whom the previous batch of mice were a bit closer to the right size), we've gotten through the bag of too-small hoppers by feeding both Gen and Q every 7 days. Now that I've purchased fresh supplies of correctly sized mice for both of them -- weaned/small mice for Gen the yearling, and medium hoppers for 4-month-old Q -- my plan is to space Gen back to every 10 days, and further to every 14 days for the winter months of December through February. My question is more for the little guy, Q. Does he need more frequent feeding due to his younger age (i.e. every 7 days, and space to 10 days for the winter), or can he follow the same 10-14 day timing as Gen?
    Ball Pythons:
    2018 Cinnamon Enchi Ghost - Ignis ("Iggy")
    2018 Butter Mojave BEL - Ravus ("Rae")
    2022 Albino Super Lesser - Cyrus ("Cy")

    Boa Imperator:
    2018 Hypo Blood - Genesis ("Gen")
    2019 IMG Motley - Requiem ("Q")
    2019 Sharp Blizzard - Elysium ("Elys")

    Iggy&Rae on Instagram:
    https://www.instagram.com/iggy_and_rae

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  7. #15
    BPnet Veteran WrongPython's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for feeding a small yearling boa?

    I'm facing the same question right now with Adelita. I think a 10-14 day schedule might be pushing it for a sub-yearling boa, but a 10-day schedule with a bit of a temperature drop (to the degree you'd want to do that with a young boa) should be fine.

    For what it's worth, I'm putting Adelita on an 8-day schedule starting next week, with the possibility of moving to a 10-day schedule between December - February. Depending on how she's feeling and how her new enclosure shakes out, I may drop her basking temp from 90F to 88F and lower the humdity from 60-65% to 50-55% as well.
    0.1 Sonoran Boa sigma​: "Adelita" ('19 Hypo het. leopard)
    1.0 Boa imperator longicauda: "Kuzco" ('19 het. anery)
    0.1 West Papuan Morelia spilota​: "Pandora" ('20)

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  9. #16
    Bogertophis's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for feeding a small yearling boa?

    Quote Originally Posted by RedRabbit View Post
    ... My question is more for the little guy, Q. Does he need more frequent feeding due to his younger age (i.e. every 7 days, and space to 10 days for the winter), or can he follow the same 10-14 day timing as Gen?
    If he were my snake, I'd feed every 7 days for a while & then gradually lengthen the time between meals & see how it goes. If he's ravenous, stay with 7 day intervals
    for a while longer. Remember that wild snakes don't get meals delivered at specific intervals & they manage just fine, so don't beat yourself up if your schedule is less
    than exact...some variations are natural anyway.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

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  11. #17
    BPnet Veteran MarkL1561's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for feeding a small yearling boa?

    I fed my boa every 7 days as a baby. He’s a tad over a year now and I tried switching him to every 14 days but changed it to every 10. You don’t want them fat but you don’t want them skinny either. They should retain the classic boa shape without scale separation. Jason’s exotic reptiles has a good boa feeding video imo.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  13. #18
    BPnet Veteran RedRabbit's Avatar
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    Thanks for the input, everyone! Exactly the info I was looking for. I know that boas generally do better with a more restrained feeding regimen compared to BPs, and that it's easy to accidentally overfeed them, but I don't want to unwittingly undershoot, either. With the above advice in mind, does this sound like a reasonable plan for Q?

    1. At this time, I will continue feeding him every 7 days.

    2. For December-February, I will shift him (gradually) over to every 10 days. By December he will be around 5-6 months old and will be better able to tolerate the spacing, and this will observe the seasonal feeding schedule that seems to be recommended by the long-established boa breeders.

    3. After February, I will bring him back up to feeding every 8-9 days for the remaining 4 months before he hits his 1-year mark.

    4. Once he reaches the 1-year mark, he can be on the same 10-day schedule that Gen currently has.

    If yes, then it's time for me to map out my calendar from now up through next June, haha!
    Ball Pythons:
    2018 Cinnamon Enchi Ghost - Ignis ("Iggy")
    2018 Butter Mojave BEL - Ravus ("Rae")
    2022 Albino Super Lesser - Cyrus ("Cy")

    Boa Imperator:
    2018 Hypo Blood - Genesis ("Gen")
    2019 IMG Motley - Requiem ("Q")
    2019 Sharp Blizzard - Elysium ("Elys")

    Iggy&Rae on Instagram:
    https://www.instagram.com/iggy_and_rae

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    Bogertophis (10-17-2019),dakski (10-17-2019)

  15. #19
    Bogertophis's Avatar
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    Sounds like a plan!
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

  16. #20
    BPnet Veteran MarkL1561's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for feeding a small yearling boa?

    Sounds good. Just remember there’s not necessarily only one correct way to do things. Pay close attention to your animal and adjust the feeding as needed and you should be ok. I love that boas never refuse a meal, makes set schedules much easier than with bp’s. So far my boa is definitely my favorite snake, don’t tell the others... haha. I definitely want to get more in the future.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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